Page:The most ancient lives of Saint Patrick - O'Leary.djvu/168



And six years had now passed when, under the direction of the Lord, he had thoroughly learned the Irish tongue, and with prayers and with tears he unceasingly besought of God that he might be released from slavery and restored to his country. And on a certain day appeared unto him, while praying, an angel of the Lord, standing on the crag of an overhanging rock, and announcing that his prayers and his fastings had ascended as a memorial before God; and the angel added thereto that he should soon cast from his neck the yoke of servitude, and, after a prosperous voyage, return to his own parents. And the servant of God looked on the angel of God, and, conversing with him face to face familiarly, even as with a friend, asked who he was, and by what name was he called. And the heavenly messenger answered that he was the ministering spirit of the Lord, sent into the world to minister unto them who have the heritage of salvation; that he was called Victor, and especially deputed to the care of him, and he promised to be his helpmate and his assistant in doing all things. And although it is not needful that heavenly spirits should be called by human names, yet the angel, being beautifully clothed with an human form composed of the air, called himself Victor, for that he had received from Christ, the most victorious King, the power of vanquishing and binding the powers of the air and the princes of darkness; who had also given to his servants made of the potter's clay the power of treading on serpents and scorpions, and of vanquishing and bruising Satan. And in their mutual colloquy the angel showed unto Patrick an opening in the ground